Beacons
by eClair23
Summary: Post "My Struggle IV", William finds his way home.
1. Chapter 1

Scully placed the vase of flowers on the kitchen table in the farmhouse. "I want to put up a windmill."

Mulder looked up from his newspaper. "What?"

She looked at the floor, suddenly sheepish. "I, um, I had another vision last night."

"What are you talking about, sweetheart?" He was trying to be gentle but firm with her about William's fate.

"He's alive, Mulder."

He shook his head sadly. "That's not possible, Scully, I saw him shot right in front of me. He's gone."

She took his hand earnestly. "I think we need to learn to start accepting the impossible, Fox."

He nodded in understanding; she'd first-named him, so she had to be serious. He sighed. "Okay, so what color are you thinking?"

"Brown, like the one in the snowglobe he kept in his room. I want him to be able to find his way home. I believe that he will, when it's time."

"He will."

Scully smiled, then turned somber. "What if he does? What do we do then?"

"I think we should offer to adopt him. I know, he doesn't want to be tied down or anything, but we could just give him sort of a home base to come back to if he needs, you know?"

She sniffed. "That sounds perfect."

"And then he really would be ours...finally." Mulder remarked, in a rare show of vulnerability. She knew he had been trying to grieve gently for her sake, but she sensed he was more distraught over William's apparent death than he let on.

She smiled widely. "Finally."


	2. Chapter 2

She hummed as she sat down at the kitchen table and Mulder slid two homemade pancakes onto her plate and heaped a small mountain onto his own, drenching it in syrup. They ate in companionable silence as she flipped through channels on the television and he read the newspaper until a soft knock interrupted their quiet breakfast.

She looked at him, shocked, with a glance that could only have one word attached to it: _William._

Mulder steered her toward the door with a gentle hand on her back and pulled the door open with a faint creak. In front of them stood the dark haired boy from the security tapes who Mulder had met only once in a dingy hotel room. Scully's jaw dropped as she saw her son's true form for the first time before he stepped forward and awkwardly put his arms around her.

"Hi, Mom."

Scully pressed her face against his shoulder (he was as tall as Mulder now) as she tried to contain her sobs and remind herself to breathe.

"How did you find us?"

He gestured behind him, through the still open door. "The windmill out front. It's like the one in my snowglobe." She pulled him tighter.

William patted her back in an attempt to soothe her as Mulder stood to the side. William's eyes met Mulder's and he pulled back from Scully.

"Dad." The two men hugged, but this time, William hugged Mulder back as if he truly was his father.

"I assume you know that I'm not your biological father by this point."

William nodded. "I don't care."

Scully could swear she saw the tears escape Mulder's eyes as he pulled her into their embrace.

"We looked for you for _so long_ ," Scully breathed.

"And we've finally found you," Mulder murmured into her hair. "We love you so much."

"And we know you've said you don't want to live with us, because it's too dangerous, but we've been thinking about that. Can you stay and talk?" Scully said.

"Yeah, okay." His affirmative answer shocked them out of their stupor.

Mulder closed the front door. "Come in. We can talk in the kitchen. Want some pancakes?"

"Um...sure. Thanks."

They settled back at the table, and Scully threaded hers and Mulder's hands together. "So, we'd like to officially adopt you, if that's something you want. And you don't have to live here. It could be like a sort of 'home base' for you to come to whenever you need. We'll be here as often as you want us, but you can come and go as you want."

"So we would be like a real family?"

Scully nodded eagerly, searching William's eyes for an answer.

"Okay."

Scully sucked in a breath. "You'll need to disguise yourself when we get to the court hearing, but the name can be correct on the papers. They know you as Jackson, not William, and they believe you to be dead, so I think you're out of immediate danger. Do you have a problem with that?"

William shook his head, and his eyes widened as they settled on her tiny baby bump, almost unnoticeable this early on. "Are you...?"

Scully smiled softly, tears glimmering in her eyes. "About three months along."

"Congratulations, Mom. That's really great." William smiled for the first time and Scully felt her chest constrict with happiness.

"Thank you."

Mulder interjected. "I know we've been calling you William, but I also know that you went by Jackson for a long time. What do you want us to call you?"

William paused, thinking. "William."

Mulder slid his chair back from the table, reaching for his phone. "I'll call our lawyer."


	3. Chapter 3

It was hurried, but the adoption went through after weeks of hoping and praying from all three members of the newly founded Mulder-Scully family. William was officially their child, in every sense of the word, at long last. They had a small celebration at the farmhouse, just the three of them, over cake and ice cream.

And then William left. They knew it was coming. Heck, they'd told him he could. But it still stung that he didn't feel safe with them. He still dropped by every now and then, though, for birthdays and holidays, or if he was feeling lonely.

He came home to help with the baby when Samantha Melissa was born later that year. He was great with her and she adored her older brother. The feeling was mutual. He was the only one who could get her to take a bottle while Scully tried to get some much-needed sleep. But as soon as she had moved on to solid foods, he'd shouldered his duffel bag and left again.

He was taking classes at the community college, he told them, studying psychology to try to help kids like him in the foster care system. He hadn't used his powers to hurt someone in four years, and he was getting better, with lots of counseling and medication sponsored by a very concerned Scully.

They were so proud. When he finished his degree, they all came to his graduation. Scully had the picture of the four of them framed, William in his cap and gown and all of them happier than they'd ever been. She kept it on her bedside table with the picture of herself and Mulder on their wedding day. And every night before bed, she thanked God for their little family, fractured and broken as it was. It wasn't perfect, but it was an improvement, and they were all together (at least every now and again) and alive, and that was all that mattered.


End file.
